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Ontario Place
Ontario Place was an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toronto. It opened on May 22, 1971, and operated as a theme park centred around Ontario themes and family attractions until 2012 when the Government of Ontario announced that it would close for redevelopment. It has since reopened as a park without an admission fee but without several of the old attractions. The Government of Ontario has made controversial plan to place the 145 acres on a 95-year lease with the Swiss mega-spa builder Therme Group without public consultation or environmental assessments.
Since the closure as a theme park, several of the venue's facilities have remained open, once reopened, and one section was redeveloped. The Budweiser Stage operates during the summer season. The Cinesphere, the original IMAX theatre, reopened with new projection equipment and shows films regularly; although it is currently closed for renovations. On the East Island, Trillium Park and the William G Davis Trail opened in 2017. A marina, sheltered by three sunken lake freighters operates seasonally at the site. The exhibit "pods", several pavilions suspended above a lagoon, have remained closed after the closure of the Atlantis event facility. While much of the West Island's facilities are permanently closed, some of the natural spaces are now being used for recreation. Occasionally special events are hosted in the west island village.
The Ontario Place theme park operated annually during the summer months from 1971 until 2011. Designed originally to promote the Province of Ontario through exhibits and entertainment, its focus changed over time to be that of a theme park for families with a water park, a children's play area, and amusement rides. Exhibits in the pods were discontinued and the pods became a venue for private events. The Forum concert stage had long been a primary draw to Ontario Place in its early years as it offered free concerts by a wide variety of prominent artists, for free with the price of admission to the park. Structured as a true amphitheater with seating on all sides and a recessed stage that was round and revolved during concerts, all seats offered an equal view of the stage and were offered on a first come first served basis. In the 1990s, despite the vocal protests of Eb Zeidler, the architect of the park among others, the Forum was torn down and replaced by the (misleadingly named) Amphitheatre, in truth a static proscenium arch stage with banked ticketed seating. After a long period of declining attendance, the Government of Ontario closed the facility except for its music venue and marina after the 2011 season.
Built in 1926, the CNE Ontario Government Building displayed exhibits about Ontario at the annual Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). After the success of the Ontario Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal, the Government of Ontario decided to replace the CNE building with a new state-of-the-art showcase. The government at first considered moving the Ontario Pavilion to a site on Toronto Island but instead decided at the instigation of Jim Ramsay, to build a facility elsewhere on the waterfront. Ontario Premier John Robarts announced the project at the opening of the CNE in August 1968.
We shall utilize the natural setting of the waterfront, modern structural designs, and hope to create the mood of gaiety and openness which helped make so popular the Ontario Pavilion at Expo '67
— Ontario Premier John Robarts,
The park itself was originally conceived as an onshore exhibit, but this idea was discarded in favour of five large, architecturally unique, three-level pods in an aquatic setting somewhat similar in concept to Montreal's Expo 67 grounds (which were in the middle of the Saint Lawrence River). Each pod would be approximately 8,000 square feet (740 m2) in area, and suspended by steel cables from four large central pylons driven deep into the lake bed. These pods initially housed various Ontario-themed exhibits. The first model displayed to the government dismayed director Jim Ramsay:
The first time we saw it was in October 1968, when the architects brought in this small model and laid it before us. It was nothing but a few pieces of balsa wood, some pieces of black plastic and a half tennis ball sticking up. I remember thinking 'Oh my God – what's this we're getting?'
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Ontario Place AI simulator
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Ontario Place
Ontario Place was an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toronto. It opened on May 22, 1971, and operated as a theme park centred around Ontario themes and family attractions until 2012 when the Government of Ontario announced that it would close for redevelopment. It has since reopened as a park without an admission fee but without several of the old attractions. The Government of Ontario has made controversial plan to place the 145 acres on a 95-year lease with the Swiss mega-spa builder Therme Group without public consultation or environmental assessments.
Since the closure as a theme park, several of the venue's facilities have remained open, once reopened, and one section was redeveloped. The Budweiser Stage operates during the summer season. The Cinesphere, the original IMAX theatre, reopened with new projection equipment and shows films regularly; although it is currently closed for renovations. On the East Island, Trillium Park and the William G Davis Trail opened in 2017. A marina, sheltered by three sunken lake freighters operates seasonally at the site. The exhibit "pods", several pavilions suspended above a lagoon, have remained closed after the closure of the Atlantis event facility. While much of the West Island's facilities are permanently closed, some of the natural spaces are now being used for recreation. Occasionally special events are hosted in the west island village.
The Ontario Place theme park operated annually during the summer months from 1971 until 2011. Designed originally to promote the Province of Ontario through exhibits and entertainment, its focus changed over time to be that of a theme park for families with a water park, a children's play area, and amusement rides. Exhibits in the pods were discontinued and the pods became a venue for private events. The Forum concert stage had long been a primary draw to Ontario Place in its early years as it offered free concerts by a wide variety of prominent artists, for free with the price of admission to the park. Structured as a true amphitheater with seating on all sides and a recessed stage that was round and revolved during concerts, all seats offered an equal view of the stage and were offered on a first come first served basis. In the 1990s, despite the vocal protests of Eb Zeidler, the architect of the park among others, the Forum was torn down and replaced by the (misleadingly named) Amphitheatre, in truth a static proscenium arch stage with banked ticketed seating. After a long period of declining attendance, the Government of Ontario closed the facility except for its music venue and marina after the 2011 season.
Built in 1926, the CNE Ontario Government Building displayed exhibits about Ontario at the annual Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). After the success of the Ontario Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal, the Government of Ontario decided to replace the CNE building with a new state-of-the-art showcase. The government at first considered moving the Ontario Pavilion to a site on Toronto Island but instead decided at the instigation of Jim Ramsay, to build a facility elsewhere on the waterfront. Ontario Premier John Robarts announced the project at the opening of the CNE in August 1968.
We shall utilize the natural setting of the waterfront, modern structural designs, and hope to create the mood of gaiety and openness which helped make so popular the Ontario Pavilion at Expo '67
— Ontario Premier John Robarts,
The park itself was originally conceived as an onshore exhibit, but this idea was discarded in favour of five large, architecturally unique, three-level pods in an aquatic setting somewhat similar in concept to Montreal's Expo 67 grounds (which were in the middle of the Saint Lawrence River). Each pod would be approximately 8,000 square feet (740 m2) in area, and suspended by steel cables from four large central pylons driven deep into the lake bed. These pods initially housed various Ontario-themed exhibits. The first model displayed to the government dismayed director Jim Ramsay:
The first time we saw it was in October 1968, when the architects brought in this small model and laid it before us. It was nothing but a few pieces of balsa wood, some pieces of black plastic and a half tennis ball sticking up. I remember thinking 'Oh my God – what's this we're getting?'